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- 7y
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- 7y
People do recover from OCD. Keep it up and always have hope, even in bad days. I recommend OCD Stories on podcast.
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- 7y
It is difficult to find a therapist that specializes in OCD and really understands the disorder, but they are out there. I found my therapist through the IOCDF website.
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- 7y
What is UCLA? Is it university of California, Los Angeles?
- Date posted
- 7y
The ocd suffer never kills themself because your repetitive unwanted thought tells you to. OCD suffers kill themselves either due to depression or impulsivity...I had these thoughts too! I went to UCLA’s OCD Program, 5 days a week for 6 weeks, in 2011. They helped me overcome the thoughts of wanting to kill myself. They use Exposure Response Prevention Therapy in treating OCD. It is tough therapy. If u want to get better, you have to confront your fears/thoughts/obsessions. U might need to start some medication to bring down your anxiety before starting exposure therapy. Make a list of your obsessions/fears...then rate each one from 1-10; 1 being mild anxiety; 10 being the worst anxiety you can imagine. Once you’ve done that. One must do exposures starting at low anxiety provoking obsessions. Once you expose yourself enough times to your fear. The anxiety will drop. You should feel much better after doing exposures.
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- 7y
I had ocd all my life too but didn’t know about it. The ocd started inferring in my life in my 20’s. Where I was hospitalized many time’s. Where I was told I had ocd.
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- 7y
@firebird it took only six weeks for you to overcome that thought? Wow, that’s really inspiring. Do you have other stuff on HOCD to share? Can you elaborate a little more?
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- 7y
@mvp - Yes, it’ll ramp up your anxiety. =/ The more you exposure yourself to your Fears without doing any compulsions, your anxiety should diminish. =D They say FEAR stands for: False Evidence Appearing Real.
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- 7y
UCLA is the University of California Los Angeles.
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- 7y
I wish I could say this is all helpful but it’s not. I keep getting told my OCD is to to bad for each department or place to deal with. After 4 places telling me this I’m now on a 3month waiting list for another place. I have so many simptons. I have also tried a few things above and things went wrong so it just unforced my OCD. I just feel like giving up but can’t but I think I may as well give up on getting help.
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- 7y
@stacy I was hospitalized 10 years ago and it was a horrible experience. Nobody even suggested that it was OCD and I was having constant anxiety and panic attacks fueled by the same obsessive thought over and over again. It is only this year that a doctor really listened and had me take the YCBOS test, and sure enough my symptoms were in the severe category. I feel like OCD is so misunderstood.
- Date posted
- 7y
@firebird did the ERP therapy ramp up your anxiety even more in the beginning? I had my first session last week and feel like my thoughts are louder than ever right now.
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- 7y
@Kainen.. Don’t give up man
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- 7y
@Serena Yes. I did relapse though. 2 weeks after the program. However, after changing to 300mg of Anafranil from 40mg Lexapro/5mg Abilify + taking a break from college, I was able to completely let go of my Obsessive Suicidal thoughts. =D Is HOCD an abbreviation for Homosexual Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? If so, I don’t have HOCD.
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- 7y
@firebird By HOCD, I mean harm OCD.
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- 7y
I was prescribed Abilify and Zoloft. I was really reluctant to take Abilify cuz I googled it and it says Abilify is used to treat schizophrenia.
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- 7y
@firebird Thank you but I am not in the U.S. I always envy you guys cuz mental health issues are better understood in U.S. Anyway, thanks a lot for the reply.
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- 7y
??
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 7y
The IOCDF has a section where you can find therapists, support groups, and organizations in specific areas: https://iocdf.org/find-help/
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
I’ve always had OCD, and for most of my life it was little things that seemed manageable at the time or something that would phase out of my head within a couple days/weeks/months. But, the older I got the more severe it became, I’d find myself collapsing deeper and deeper within my own head trying to out think the thoughts that bothered me. About a year ago I had a thought that rattled me to my core. My brothers and I were watching a movie in our mother’s room when my youngest brother turned to me to say something. His close proximity to me triggered a fleeting sexually explicit image in my head and that thought caused me to spiral. Asking questions like, “are you attracted to your minor brother? Are you attracted to minors? Are you gay? Etc.” a couple days went by and my mental stability continued to crumble until I broke down to my mother, she was understanding and we found a a psychiatrist. I got on medication and for a while everything was slowly but surely trending in a positive direction. The thoughts would still pop into my head but they were becoming more manageable. As we all know OCD and mental illness comes in waves. Currently my OCD has been pretty severe. I feel those intrusive thoughts latching on in my head and it’s been very hard to kick them. It’s gotten to the point where I find myself being uncomfortable being in close proximity with my little brother because I feel as though I am capable of harming him in any way. And the more uncomfortable I become being around him the more I find myself lashing out in anger towards the people I care about the most. Those moments of anger cause me to spiral even farther as my head fills with ideas like “what if you are capable of hurting someone or even murdering them?” There’s times where these thoughts rattle me so much that I feel like it would be better to be in prison where I couldn’t harm someone or that even being dead would be a better solution than possibly running the risk of hurting someone in my life I care about. This is about the jist of it, a majority of the OCD I have is centered around the idea that I am capable of harming my little brother physically, mentally, sexually. It’s been exhausting and it feels like there is no end in sight.
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- 21w
I've been struggling with ocd since I was 7. I'm 18 now and it feels like the older I've gotten the worse it's gotten. I don't know how to deal with it and i feel so lost and alone. Its hard for me to even say what my intrusive thoughts are or to even fully acknowledge it to myself in my head because im scared that if i put it out in the world itll be true or if i acknowledge the thought it solidifies it and makes it true. i feel like im just over exaggerating what im feeling and im turning something that isnt there into something bigger which makes it hard to talk about it with other people. Especially because im not diagnosed but I know it's ocd but what if it isnt? What if im lying to myself or I'm just doing it to get attention and I don't realize it? I just try to deal with it on my own but it's so hard and feels impossible. I feel like ocd has contaminated every part of my life that I enjoy. The things that used to bring me comfort are now filled with things that trigger my ocd and bring me anxiety.
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- 18w
I have struggled with the darkest thoughts for a long time that rip me apart and have shattered my identity or attempts to create an identity. The worst part is they latch on to what feels most important to me at a point in time, or very important parts of who I am/my family is. Now that I write it out it helps put it in a bit of a perspective, of just how far my ridiculous ruinations have gone. Essentially the obsessive thoughts center on the fear of being a murderer, and have ruined my life for 15 years. This is totally ridiculous, but it developed so bad I was analyzing every good or bad instinct or personality trait of myself and even my family. This makes me cry but it has changed how I even view my whole family. The instinct to even just say Hi to someone, turned into 'you're not actually friendly, you're a murderer.' The worst part is it latches on to the positive aspects of ourselves: For instance, the ongoing deep desire I get to invent/create something outside of my work life and start a creative project, (this is a lifelong passion of one of my parents), Is disrupted by thoughts that somehow this passion is driven by a darker thing such as being a murderer. It's so horrible because it clouds my view of my own parent who I know I deeply love, and view of people in general. This leaves me broken inside and it is hard to get through every day, especially when the thought process starts positive (I want to start a creative project) then quickly devolves into extremely disturbing thoughts about oneself and even my family. Writing this out has helped I will say because it helps me see the thoughts for how ridiculous they are, and see how OCD really works by latching on to what you value/care about most. Essentially its like the most ultimate fear of fearing yourself, which makes it so hard to develop a sense of identity, do the things you actually would enjoy, enjoy relationships, and in general live your best life.
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